For 11 News' Healthier Youth segment this week, reporter Jennifer Franciotti visited the Afya Public Charter School, where exercise takes center stage. Before the first bell, students are moving at the east Baltimore school, where track pants and wick-away shirts are the school uniform for students and teachers.

"It's really a place where we expect to be active every day, and we understand the connection between being active and our academic performance," said Afya Principal Katie Marts.

Afya is the Swahili word for health, and the middle schoolers come ready to participate. They have 60 minutes of physical education each day.

"We're playing basketball, playing football -- just running around and having fun," said eighth-grader Ahmad Townes.

"We're making it fun, making it a little competitive, where they compete against other peers. That way, they really push themselves and motivate themselves to better themselves," said PE teacher Mike Morgan.

Exercise is also a part of regular classes. Students do what's called a spark, where PE teachers pop into math and language arts classes several times a week to get kids up, wake them up, pump up their energy and refocus their minds.

Afya students take the Presidential Fitness Test three times a year, and the school regularly tracks their body mass index, height and weight.

"We meet with the families midway through the year to talk about their progress: Where your student is at now, in terms of their healthy fitness zone, and where do they need to be," Marts said.

Students are also taught about healthy eating. University of Maryland nutritionist Elizabeth Metz said finding out what kids are eating is the first step to a better lifestyle.

"One of the things we find out is if kids are skipping meals, which is often true, especially teenagers with breakfast. Another thing we find out is how much fried foods they're eating and processed foods, and how little fruits and veggies are in their diet. Also, the types of beverages they drink, whether it be soda or another sugar-sweetened beverage, or the types of milk they drink," Metz said.

Making better choices is helping eighth-grader James Goodwin. Now an athlete, he's changed a lot since coming to Afya.

"I lost a lot of weight. I feel good about it, about losing weight since elementary school," he said.

"A lot of students have become really incredible athletes. They've dropped quite a bit of weight, and we've also seen improvement in their grades and attendance," Marts said.